The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-03-29
DANGEROUS PLACES IN PARIS.
III. Cellars Where Thieves and Murder
Resort.

81 We made up party of three, and
between ! and iii the morning We ar
rived at the Central markets. We left
them 10 their dreams. and descended by
a harrow staircase into "A series Of vaults.
the whtewaShed ceilings of which We're
covered with arabesques and names writ
ten in black with the smoke of candle
In one part of these vaults II group Of IneE.
were drinking and singing parodies IF
church hymns. This did not come up TO
our expectations, 80 we went To Ia Jeune
France" a famous cellar. where Il man
had been a-SaS~inatcd only "A few nights
before We passed through ii gate, down
one flight of narrow stairs. then stopping
low, We passed under n narrow archway
Reserved in the foundations of the house.
then down another Hight Of stairs. then
through another archway, along Il tortu-
Gus p;.sSalgc, aud ~ Ia a tunnel about
seen feet high. five feet broad. and twenty
feet hong The vault of the roof was Gov
cre,l with green trelliswork; There were
benches and rush stools To sit upon.
wuaduu tables hearing the marks If strife;
and. Ia light rs, two gas jets. We were
here al the very end Of the mouse trap,
and we now understood why the Eolt c
never enter these ''caveauN there i Hu
possibility of a fair Tight
When We entered the 8 - there
ordered some wine two ml~.-n Ins came
in. The one was "A miserably gale fellow,
half starved and half blind. with thin
blonde mustache. tie sang and accnIn-
panied himself by striking IA few chords
oI = guitar. The other was "A short. bouy
man. with "A black beard, drunken hlue
eyes. round shoulders and an appearance
of humility. a. if he were constantly afraid
of receiving kicks. He sang in turn,
STUNNING ON IA single bass chord The
tip given by some watcher soon brought
four other Visitors-a burly ruflian, VIII,
wore Il huge red feZ rising eighteen inches
above his crown; IA young man wearing q
thin cotton blouse and two others dressed
in east off clothes of fashionable cut, but
without a vestit,e of linen. The humble
musician sang, above all things, an all
from -'Miguon, y keeping his eyes fixed OF
| the ground a. ne sang and pointing 10 his
| heart with an awkward gesture whenever
the word heart occurred in the ro
nance. suddenly, one after another. hal
/ IL dozen athletic, square shouldered men
VARYING in age from /. To p. crept through
/ the narrow archway, passed rapidly il
without even CHANGING at our table aHt
/ massed themselves ut the end of the vault
| iolling ON the benches, smoking cigarette:
/ and drinking at our expense, for w
| thought il only polite Ia offer these gentle
/ men II Elst~- vi Nllit. 81 IL TN
musicians were playing for our amuse
/ ment.
After '-Mignon' the ruffian with tn
| red feZ asked for the guitar, took "A tuning
| fork ont of his pocket, snapped ii with hi
teeth. and tuned the instrument properly
| Then the ruffian i'll the cotton blouse ros
| and with fine voice, perfect sentiment, am
| correct gesture, sang other airs from
/ ''Mignon' and also from Carmen. Al
/ the rufiians listened i'll perfect silence L
the singer, who was real artist, and trl
women who had Joined the band ulelte'
! into tears at the end, one of them eXclain
iny: All. music! When hear 'Mignon
| can't help it. ! cry like calf. y Tn
/ scene appeared to be idyllic rather tina
/ brieandish and terrible. However, il mp
peared after after all that we might hay
| been in better company, for at sign iron
| the waiter | slipped out of the vault
You had better give the word To you
| friends 10 come up stairs. The band
almost au complet, and il is the very BAN
that assassinated a man here last week
Ii their chief happens to come in yo
might get in trouble" We did not wal
to he warned twice, but wished the gen
tlemen good evening, and assembled til
staircase without undue precipitation, an
yet with kind of internal sensation q
raptlity.-Paris Cor. New York sun.